On January 20, 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued general notice No. 50 of SAMR, which announced the release of Regulations on Special Equipment Accident Reporting and Investigation (hereinafter referred to as “the Regulations”).
The original version of the Regulations was issued in 2009. In 2019, however, the SAMR initiated its revision. Its first revised draft was released for public opinion in May of 2019. A second round of calling for public comments took place in November of 2019. According to the official notice, this document will replace its original version and take effect on March 1, 2022.
The Regulations contain five chapters and forty-two articles. The key contents include:
· Legal basis
in accordance with Special Equipment Safety Law (become effective since January 1, 2014) and Regulations on Safety Supervision of Special Equipment (comes into force on May 1, 2009).
· Objective:
Provide a benchmark for implementing accident reports and investigation of special equipment to ensure that the investigative process is effectively carried out. The final goal is to ultimately reduce or prevent accidents from happening.
· Definition and excluding cases of “special equipment accidents”
The regulatory scope of the document refers to accidents caused by equipment or its safety facilities (component damage, malfunction etc.); as well as accidents caused by manual operations that disobey the laws, regulations, and safety specifications of special equipment.
The scope only covers equipment listed in the Special Equipment Catalogue. The Regulations are not applied to following cases:
- Accidents that are listed in article 100 of the Special Equipment Safety Law
- Accidents caused by force majeure (natural disasters) or by outer resources (traffic accident and fire etc.)
- Accidents caused by sabotage or equipment used in illegal and criminal acts.
- Accidents that happened before the equipment was in operation, or those that had taken place when equipment was non-functional (during disassembly, scrapping etc.)
- Accidents caused by inappropriate or missing labor protection measures from the operator/inspector/testing crew.
- Accidents that happened while the vehicle used for factories/resorts/recreational facilities was out of its specified area.
· Managing authorities and reporting lines
- Managing authority: SAMR is to monitor and supervise on a national level, while also looking into regional market regulation authorities managing products within their scope.
- Reporting line:
Relevant staff at the accident scene (immediately)
--》person in charge of the equipment owning company/entity (within 2 hours)
--》market regulating authority of county level (within 2 hours)
--》market regulating authority of municipal level (within 2 hours)
--》market regulating authority of provincial level (within 2 hours)
--》SAMR
· Investigation contents
An investigative report should be submitted by the individual that witnessed/had the accident to the monitoring authority. The report should cover: nature (including cause) of the accident and accident liabilities (in different levels including: full liability, main liability, secondary liability).
The investigation period should be within 60 days after establishing the investigation group.
· Accident handling
The investigation report should be submitted by the market regulation authority for approval, as well as have it filed to its superior market regulation authority.
Market regulation authorities will issue an administrative penalty to the company or people with liabilities based on the reviewed and approved report in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.
The report shall be openly published to society.
The new version of the Regulations inherited the main structure and same principles from its previous draft. Changes in the new version include adding more details pertaining to terms of reporting methods, responsible departments for investigation, and the review requirements of reports.
In general, the newly revised regulation clarifies management measures and requirements for all stakeholders involved in an accident of special equipment. Relevant manufacturers and special equipment users are advised to read the whole document carefully and arrange necessary trainings for relevant staff.
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